2016 Draft Profile - Gary Payton

Strengths: Although Gary Payton II will always have to live up to the hype that comes with being the son of a legendary NBA point guard, he had a solid career at Oregon State that many scouts believe will get the 6’3” point guard drafted.

Similar to his father’s style, Payton is an elite defender that excels in making opponents work for everything and has a knack of getting his hands in the passing lane. He’s a great rebounder for his size (7.9 RPG) and can rack up steals on a nightly basis. Payton also blocks shots well for his size and can even guard the two spot depending on the matchup.

Offensively, Payton is an improved shooter that can hit from deep (averaged 16.0 points per game) and he’s continued to show that his offensive game is improving – his biggest knock.

Many NBA scouts expect Payton of being a solid backup coming in who will excel on defense and can hold his own enough offensively to be effective in the rotation.

Weaknesses: Although Payton can be a nightmare of the defensive end, it’s still his inconsistency on the offensive side that is his biggest question mark coming into the draft.

The Oregon State prospect isn’t the scorer he’ll need to be at the NBA level, but he did make vast improvements in his senior year. At 6’3”, Payton also may be a bit of a “tweener” at the guard spot, and although he’s a great defender, his size may cause him to struggle when guarding bigger two guards.

Another knock on him is that he’s already 23 – a year older than the rest of his class. But then again, we’ve seen year after year that sometimes the four-year college players come out more NBA ready than the younger prospects that decide to leave college a year to even three years early.